A Timeless Seduction

Double T Agency

by Rainey Daye

In the 24th century, it became common knowledge that due to a mutated recessive gene associated with the Y chromosome, a small percentage of the population is born with the natural ability to travel through time. These men are known collectively as Double T's. However, such abilities come with a heavy price that every Double T must pay.

Kyle is a 26th century man who is getting tired of being sent to disaster areas to record those events. Needing a break, he decides to spend time on an archeological dig in the 22nd century. But a chance sighting of the fiancée of the dig’s head archeologist awakens his dormant desires. Since Peter has no use for his fiancée, other than her money and family connections, Kyle decides that seducing her away from the cheat would be in her own best interests. But will he be able to walk away when the seduction is complete?

199 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 17, 2014

Reviews

[karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

so, obviously i read this book because of its title and premise: a little girl named karen whose existence is one of unadulterated evil who doesn't like other children and lives near a park called woodside park, which is coincidentally, a park near my own house?? yeah, bring it on! keep writing my life!

this book is published by lazy day publishing, which is a small press that serves the digital marketplace, giving new authors the opportunity to gain exposure without having to deal with the headaches, hoops and politics of more traditional publishers. the downside of this process is that you don't get the same editorial attention that a more established house can supply.

so i'm not going to be too hard on the writing, because that's one of those easy-snarks that i reserve for my readings in monsterotica, and snark is never super-useful. however, while i am not an editor, i am a reader, and there are a lot of easy fixes and tightenings that could be done to make the writing a little less jarring for the reader, which i will just briefly mention before we get to the good stuff of plot and character.

contractions. contractions are incredibly useful in making characters believable and sound the way that people actually sound. without contractions, characters sound like stilted robots or aliens. and if it were just the one character - in this case, karen - who is not quite human, that would be fine. it would set her apart and make her demonic origins more apparent. but it's not. it affects all the characters.

mother-"Karen, I did not even think about it. With all that has happened, I am not sure how you can think of it either."

therapist-"We will focus our attention on helping him, and I am certain he will be okay."

brother-"Yes, I guess so. I will pray extra hard for Jason to get better soon. I will miss my friend so much!"

and it's not every piece of dialogue, but it happens enough that it really affects the flow of reading. there is also a problem with repetition:

Karen knew that she would not rest until she brought down the walls of this home and ended their very lives. How she was going to accomplish this, she was not sure.

Karen's new challenge kept her up at night. How could she accomplish this?

these are just easy edits that would tighten the prose and give more impact to the story's flow. one more example of repetition, from the very first page:

I am but an instrument of destruction. I wonder which controls me: my raven heart or my demonic voices. What I do know is that there is more work to be done, and more souls to be taken.

I'm a darkened soul, with a heart as black as night. My only purpose is to bring about the dissolution of God's living creatures. I am so monstrous that my blood pumps cold in my veins. Only a smiling face precedes this biblical sin. I am the essence of a killer. I feel no remorse. I was created to destroy. I don't need a reason to do what I do, except the ones that exist in my mind. I was put on this earth for one purpose. It is a calling I embrace deep within my dark-hearted soul.

with all that repetition of dark/black/raven hearts and souls, it calls to mind this wonderful scene from twin peaks, but it also just pads the paragraph unnecessarily.

[EDIT - youtube ate the video i linked to, but i think i was referencing this:



if not, who knows what i was talking about...]

again, for a book like this that hasn't gotten a chance to go through a professional editing process, those are just (hopefully) helpful observations that need to be made, but it is more useful to focus on the meat of the book. so!

karen = eeeeevil. i mean, she never even had a chance. not only was she born a twin (shudder), whose womb-sharing sister lived only a single day, she was also soul-switched at birth and turned into a monster. for real.

karen develops early, taking pleasure in killing animals, but quickly escalates into killing people. for the smallest of reasons.

things you can do to put yourself on karen's shit list:

1) be a family member
2) be a potential suitor for her mother
3) scratch her (if you are a turtle)
4) poop on the lawn, causing her to slip and dirty her dress (if you are a dog)
5) own a dog that poops on the lawn, causing her to slip and dirty her dress
6) be a rival in academic or sartorial excellence
7) be the mother of such a girl
8) spill mashed potatoes on her
9) accidentally run over her dog, even if you pay all medical bills, drive the dog to the vet, and make follow-up apology phone calls
10) be related to someone who accidentally ran over her dog
11) have a pool
12) give her what she wants for her birthday, but two days after the actual day
13) be an animal
14) be concerned that 9-year-old karen is on her own, wandering around the cemetery
15) be assigned to work with her on a school project
16) be a creepy pedophile (okay, that one is justified)
17) suggest boarding school
18) find her in her bedroom holding a bloody human ear in her hand with a creepy smile on her face

basically, you want to stay alive, you should avoid all contact with her. demon-souled nine-year-olds are such loose cannons:

Karen viewed the cookout as a day with extremely annoying people. They got under Karen's skin so much that she decided killing them would be the merciful thing to do…Karen exited and hurried home as quickly as possible. All the way home, Karen was anxious. She wanted the entire family dead, and she hoped with all her heart that her plan would work. As she had sat there with that family of idiots, her hatred for them had grown. What had started off as revenge against Justin's father had turned into a mission to slaughter the whole Harrison family. Their very existence exasperated her.

annoying, exasperating people?? that's pretty much all people. no one here gets out alive when karen passes by.

so, yeah. if you like horror novels about creepy little kids who write emo-poetry, listen to metallica, and kill bunches of people, this is a book for you!

and if you want to stay among the living, never ever give anyone named karen a reason to dislike you.

now click that little "like" button on this review.
or else…

come to my blog!

[Angela Crawford · Rating 1 out of 5]

From the description:

What if you discovered that your newborn’s soul was replaced by a demon moments before its birth? Not just any demon, but one whose only purpose is to bring about the dissolution of God's living creatures. It is said that Satan himself smiles on this murderous being. Lamashtu is the demon's mother, and she is an ancient Mesopotamian entity of evil. Lamashtu was assigned the task to give birth to an unholy spirit that kills the soul of newborns moments before he or she is supposed to be born, and replaces their soul with one of its own—a soul stealer. Karen Ann Murphy is that soul stealer. If Karen Ann devotes her life to the slaughter of God’s children then she is granted another life when her current one is over. Each reincarnated life must be filled with bloodshed. Karen Ann is unadulterated evil!

Horrible!! If you crossed a Dick and Jane primer with The Bad Seed you would have this book. I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I almost didn't post a review because I do respect how hard authors work, but then I noticed ALL of the reviews were great so I felt some honesty from a horror lover was needed. If I had bought this I would have been so pissed at wasting my money! I want my time back!! Don't waste your time with this one, and if you do don't say you weren't warned.

[Kenya Cagle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not sure how I feel about horror. At times I love horror and at times I hate horror. The reason why is that I don't really know what to expect. In this case having read Joan Sample's work before, I expected nothing but the best. Joan Sample delivered on this one. This is a horror story that is packed with all the elements of a good horror story. It is well developed and surprisingly visual. It is written in Joan's unique style. It is clear cut and easy to read. It is suspenseful and chilling. Horror fans will not be disappointed and should pick up this entertaining book. But don't be alone and don't read it in a dark house.

[Malinda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an AMAZING read! This story was well written and kept me on the edge of my seat. Joan captured pure evil perfectly! I never thought someone could portray a child to be this evil. She makes Damien from The Omen look like a teddy bear. It scared me so bad that I a nightmare! I think this would make an excellent film someday. If you have a weak stomach then you will not want to read this. Its definitely not for a squeamish individual!!

[Bookangels12 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a book that scared the day lights out of me. I think it would make an amazing horror film.

Kept me on the edge of my seat. I will be looking into read more of this authors work she did a great job.



Read and reviewed by Shelly




Book Angels 12 was given a copy to read and review

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spooky story about a young girl whose soul was replaced by an evil entity at birth.

[Eva Millien · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second book in the Double T Agency series is a heartwarming and intriguing time travel romance. Tired of being sent to record disaster events in the past, Kyle decides to spend time on an archeological dig in the twenty-second century. Then a chance sighting of the head of the archeologist’s fiancé awakens his dormant desires and he decides to seduce her away from her cheating fiancé for her own good. But will he be able to walk away when the seduction is complete?

This steady to fast paced plot keeps the reader in suspense with intrigue and romance as Kyle sets about seducing the young naïve Lily from the slimeball. The author brings the story to life with intriguing possibilities, well written scenes that capture the imagination and tension building suspense that builds throughout the story. The characters are strong and compelling, easily related to and grab the reader’s attention from the very beginning.

The attraction between Lilly and Kyle radiates from every page and the sex scenes are hot and steamy, but the romance is a slow building sweet one that Kyle really works for. The author conveys their emotions and personalities with vibrant intensity that makes it easy for the reader to empathize with them and get caught up in their stories.
The fascinating world that the author has created is full of wonderful and refreshingly different elements and a unique spin on the time travel genre. The concept is intriguing and while Kyle travels through different time periods, the author keeps things simple and thereby less confusing that one might think.

I really enjoyed this sweet romance with its exciting concept and I really enjoyed the couples happily ever after moment. Kyle is the rare breed of male that considers what his actions may cause and he took the time to try to help Lilly move on with her life instead of letting her stay stuck in her present state. I haven’t read the first one yet, though I will be remedying that, but going by this one, the books are separate stories and you can enjoy them without reading them in order.

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun romantic time travel story.

Men who have a gene for time travel are selected and trained in the future; they work for a time agency and Kyle goes back to record footage for historians in his present. On an archaeology dig he masquerades as a person of the time and meets a slimy cheat of a professor who swaps favours for good grades. This man's fiancée Lily has crippling agoraphobia so cannot accompany him to digs.

Kyle decides to meet Lily and even if rules forbid him to tell her what is going on behind her back, that needn't stop him from romancing her.

I thought the rehashing of what had occurred to that point, a few times, came across as unnecessary at novella length. With that caveat I did enjoy the story and found it easy to read.

Now I did not read the earlier story in this series, so maybe the background about this time travel gene would make more sense if I had. Apparently the travellers hold a recessive gene and confusingly we are told that they are likely to die at the age of thirty, along with their immediate ancestors. Later we find that this is because the men need secretly to be their own grandfathers if the recessive gene is to be passed down.... I would have been arranging genetic pairings, one man acting as grandfather for another man, with the care of zookeepers raising tigers in order not to cause inbreeding and birth defects. I still do not know why the man has to do this work by the time he is thirty as many men father children later in life.

Considerable information about the time travel agency itself is given at the back of the book, which is sensible as it avoids clogging up the action.

[Marley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got this book for free through BookBub. It had very high ratings , but I don't know why. It's a good story, but it needs some serious editing Of course, there is something charming about angelic, brilliant little girls with expansive vocabularies who kill kill kill which is why I got the book.

Karen makes it clear early on that she wants everybody who gets in her way (and that's everybody but the dog) to die die die. Think of Rhoda Penmark on steroids. By the end of the book, surprisingly, I thought just about everybody who crossed her path deserved their fate--or something. Other people are tiresome.

I don't know if there's a sequel planned, but I'd actually read one. Suggestion: Karen kills off Maxim, Tracy and Mary Ann, her "guides." Boy would they be surprised. , but you reap what you sow.

[Negar Arvanaghi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The appendix was SO COOL! I love an author that creates a whole new world and then does their research to analyze and make sure it all makes sense.

I was hoping Peter died of some horrible disease. I felt so bad for Nikki, but you reap what you sow. Lily's father is in the rat-bastard category too.

I want to know more about their life! Kyle and Lily are such a sweet couple. And SEXY.

I received this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.